Yu-Gi-Oh! has more than just these monsters to deal with at the box office, opening on the same day as Alien vs. Predator.

Even the super-prestigious Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki was a theatrical failure in America despite rave reviews and being released in over 700 theaters by Disney. The only Japanese animated theatrical features to have been successful as American theatrical releases have been those spinoffs of mega-popular children's TV cartoon series that were released at the height of their TV popularity in America. Of the top four U.S. anime theatrical grosses in their first-runs, the ranking is:

1. Pokémon The First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Nov. 12, 1999 -- $85,744,662
2. Pokémon The Movie: 2000 -- July 21, 2000 -- $43,758,684
3. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within -- July 11, 2001 -- $32,131,830
4. Pokémon 3 -- April 6, 2001 -- $17,052,128

Digimon: The Movie (Oct. 6, 2000) grossed $9,631,153. Spirited Away did better than that, but not as well as Pokémon 3.

Warner Bros. and 4Kids Entertainment, the American distributor and producer of Yu-Gi-Oh! (and by no coincidence also the distributors and producers of Pokémon) would like a chance to equal the $40+ million grosses of the first two Pokémon movies. Right now Yu-Gi-Oh! is mega-popular in America -- maybe as popular as it will ever be. The TV cartoons have been on Kids' WB! since September 2001, and are still high in the ratings.

Konami Digital Entertainment and Upper Deck Entertainment, creators of the Yu-Gi-Oh! videogames and collectible trading card games respectively, have just held the Yu-Gi-Oh! gaming U.S. finals at the Comic-Con International in San Diego on July 22-23, and the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship Tournament at the Anaheim Convention Center on July 25. (Press release: "In front of a crowd of more than 10,000 fans, 12 finalists from eight countries (USA, Japan, France, Germany, U.K., Italy, Holland and Spain) will compete for the highly coveted Yu-Gi-Oh! trophy and the honor of being the Yu-Gi-Oh! World Video Game Champion.")

VIZ, the American publisher of the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga graphic novels which have been appearing every three months, has announced that it will increase its publication schedule to monthly in February 2005 due to reader demand.